CanuckInUSA

Hi Katee ... hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I've decided to back away from this thread. Despite my last post here sounding like what a canopy nazi would say, I'm not a canopy nazi. I feel that if people want to fly high performance canopies, then there is not much other people can do but voice their opinion on the matter. But ultimately the decision is up to the individual jumper. We're all different and bring different skills and experience to the table. In the long run, people are hurting themselves (not necessarily hurting as in crashing) if they progress too fast without learning all that they can learn from the current canopy they are under. The dedicated canopy pilot is capable of progressing faster than the average freefall skydiver (mainly because the dedicated canopy pilot knows to seek coaching and seek time under canopy). Hopefully enough newer jumpers are told this message and are smart enough to follow the advice. But as I said, we're all different and we all progress at different levels. Steve can now be seen stepping off of the soap box and he has two cents less in his pocket than when he started. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Is Paris Hilton a bimbo nut case and one of the world's worst spoiled brats? Yes Should people be analyzing every decision she makes? No It's time for people to stop obsessing about this woman. There are more important things to be worrying about. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Do you believe that 15 years old are NOT capable of acting like adults? I don't. I feel when they are thrust into a scenario beyond their control, people are capable of growing up real fast (take the death of a parent and/or finding oneself on their own as examples of how this can happen). The whole reason this was brought up was because some people claim Omar Khadr did not know what he was doing since he was caught fighting in a war zone as a minor and all I say is hog wash. He knew exactly what he was doing. Just because our soft MTV (or in Canada's case Much Music) generation is allowed to remain children well into their 20s doesn't mean that other people in the world are not forced to grow up faster than we do. When I say that a few select relatives helped me ... they either gave me money loaned money (in the case of my post secondary education) to me so that I could remain in school (shit dude I finished my last year in high school living on my own ... and not liviing with my abusive step-monster ... or was that step-father ... who by the way happened to grow up on the other side of WWII and was an active member of the Hitler youth and tried to raise me into his own version of a Hitler youth). Instead of looking for holes to shoot down people's life experiences ... you should stick to the thread. Omar Khadr is not a victim ... he is someone who wants to see our way of life destroyed ... he wants to see us all dead. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't have issues with people who work and support themselves (welfare cases are a different can of worms). I have numerous co-workers who are Chinese, Vietnamese heck I even work with a Tamil from Sri Lanka and the guy is super nice. I'm just making the observation about the perceived double standards here. I am considered a racist if I close my doors to the new comers ... but the new comers are not considered racist when they close theirs to me. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

LOL ... I wasn't referring to Hongcouver ... even though my local area (Edgemont in Cowtown) is like a mini Hongcouver. Anyway, I just wanted the original poster to know that globalization is effecting many western nations, not just the UK. But with all this globalization going on, it's funny that western countries are expected to open their doors to anyone in the world. But some of these other nations (not considered part of the west) remain closed to outsiders. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

450s are all done in the same direction. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

How many jumps each did you put on the 170, 150, 135 and now a 120 before you decided to advise a newbie that it's okay to downsize so fast? I don't know you and have obviously never seen you fly a canopy. But that has got to be one of the most aggressive progressions I've ever heard of. Ready to try an 87? I bet you're a natural huh? I've always wanted a red canopy and I bet you could turn my white canopy into a red one in no time. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

My first canopy was a Triathlon 220 loaded about 0.9 to 1 Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well there is a lot of debate as to whether or not the Taliban and Al Queda are actually soldiers and thus covered under the Geneva Convention. Plus while certain rumors of prisoner treatment coming out of Gitmo are likely true. Let's not forget that the Taliban and Al Queda torture then excute their captives. So a little sleep deprivation and some of the other things going on at Gitmo don't seem that bad compared to a be-heading. I would love to see the guy face the charges of treason in a court of law. But you know the liberal judges up here in Canada would likely acquit the punk and then award him millions of dollars in damages. I am no fan of GWB ... but some of you guys are oblivious to what's happening here north of the border. There is an ever growing population base that wants to see you guys sink and many of these people are new comers to Canada. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You can't even begin to imagine how effecient a cross-braced canopy is until you jump one. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Don't under estimate the control range (or floatability if that's even remotely close to being a word) of a cross-braced canopy. I surprised the shit out of myself a couple of years ago. I did a high pull jumping a highly loaded Velo wearing a 20lb weight belt (wingloading exceeded 2.3 to 1) with someone flying a Sabre2 170 (loaded at about 1.0 to 1). I was faster than he was horizontally and had to do shashay turns to stay with him, but I had no issues what so ever staying with him vertically. Yes the people at a disadvantage in this sort of scenario are the ones who fly highly loaded traditional canopies. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You and I are on the same page when it comes to this parasite. Unfortunately 1/2 the country thinks otherwise and look at him as some victim of America (and it sickens me to hear the constant anti-American rhetoric coming from many Canadians ... America has it's issues but they are a lot closer to us than let's say a nation like Pakistan). Gitmo has it's issues ... but this is not an Arar case. The punk was caught fighting in a war zone and should therefore be treated as a prisoner of war and a traitor to Canada. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Whatever dude. I am glad the allies defeated the Nazis. But I don't hold grudges against modern day Germans (unless of course they happen to be Nazis). But there are Nazis all over the place nowadays. Not just in Germany. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust, not your average German. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I tried to not come off in a racist way. I am only giving people my observations from my local area. The most frustrating thing about the Chinese (at least the new ones) is that the have no interest whatsoever in interacting with people outside of their own race. There are even businesses here (a small minority mind you) that will not serve you if you don't speak Manderine or Cantonese. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

LOL ... you mean someone outside of Canada actually knows who our PM is? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes the Nazi party members did some horrible things. But not all Germans were Nazis and well check the history books to see that Germany was devastated by years of allied bombing. Don't get me wrong, this was a necessary thing to do. But at the end of the war, Germany and Japan were defeated and then rightfully rebuilt and both societies are now coexisting with the rest of the world in a peaceful manner. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Similar things are happening here in Canada. 10 years ago you didn't see very many women here wearing Hajabs (the scarf Muslim women wear). Now a days they all over the place (and a very small minority of them are dressed in full Burkas). But I don't care just as long as these people are obeying the local laws and are not welfare cases. However a few months back my employer forced us all to fill out a survey and I was very offended by one of the questions. You see in the area that I own my home, all one needs to do is walk around the local grocery store to observe the demographics of this ever changing society. At my local grocery store, I'd say about five in ten people are of Chinese decent (and most of them sure as hell are not interested in befriending anyone other than their own race). Two maybe three out of ten are caucasin, one in ten Muslim and one in ten are East Indian or some other race. Yet on my company sponsored survey, they seem to think I am in the majority and the Chinese are a minority. Seems to me the dweebs analyzing these surveys need to be walking around more grocery stores. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Soldier, sailors and airmen of the allied forces. You are about to embark on the great crusade to rid the world of tyranny and evil ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Omar Khadr is not a victim. He knew exactly what he was doing when he decided to bare arms against the allies of the nation of his birth. Pussy footing Canadians need to get their heads out of their rear ends and stop thinking of this man as a victim. Due to an abusive up bringing I left home at age 15. Thanks to the support of a few select relatives I was able to continue my education and not become a street thug. But it's amazing how fast someone can grow up when they are forced to. Just because it's the norm now-a-days for youth to continue to live at home well into the 20s and 30s - people are capable of acting like adults at age 15. Omar Khadr is an enemy soldier and a traitor to Canada and he should be treated as such. He should not be freed and he should definitely not be returned to Canada. Please America, do not free this man and let him continue to wage his war on our western civilization. He decided to give up his rights as a Canadian citizen the day he decided to bare arms against us. He is not a victim. He knew exactly what he was doing. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

He competed in a few selective comps last year. But I think he's busy doing demos and well helping to run his family's DZ. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

In training and in competition I fly both left and right handed patterns (all dependent on the WX conditions and of course factoring in the local DZ landing rules). This way I can fly into any existing crosswind and get the push of the wind coming out of my turn. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm not sure why you are talking about some US Neutrality Act as if it should apply in this case. Kadr is not an American, he's Canadian. Sure he was captured by US forces and is being held in a US detention center (with it's own controvesial history). But if you want to bring up how things worked during WWII ... don't forget that most nations shot people for treason back then. But now in our bleeding heart socialistic anti-American society up here north of the border ... many think of this Kadr guy as a victim. He's no victim ... he's a prisoner of war and a traitor to Canada. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't read every word in every thread ... so I guess I missed that argument. As long as people aren't talking about putting the accuracy tuffet in the middle of the swoop course, I have no issues whatsoever sharing loads and general landing areas with accuracy jumpers. As long as I can agree with the accuracy guys about the proper landing sequence, it shouldn't be an issue. Of course my experiences from last summer showed that some of these accuracy guys (not all) didn't feel the same way about me and some of them weren't afraid to voice their negative opinions to me about how much they didn't like the swooping community. I tried to tell them that we had more in common than they thought (like when I BASE jump I fly in a similar manner to them). But they wouldn't listen. To them I was just some punk ass swooper not worthy of their respect (although I am a POPS member ... thank you very much Mar). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Charge him with treason. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over